Mortgage Mess
Speaking of blame, another scheduled witness is Eugene Ludwig, who was Bill Clinton's Comptroller of the Currency in the 1990s. In 2000, Haverford College's magazine reported that "Ludwig remains proudest . . . of his efforts to compel bank compliance with fair-lending laws and his revitalization of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a 1977 law requiring banks to invest in poorer neighborhoods and improve lending and service to low- and moderate-income borrowers. Although branded an 'activist' for his vigorous support of the act . . . he points to the cold, hard facts to justify his tactics. After just one Justice Department referral in the OCC's previous 129 years, Ludwig's tenure witnessed 27 fair-lending cases, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in fines against violators." Will he testify today that noneconomic loans were entirely the fault of bankers?